T0R0 rover

Project description

Team D.I.A.N.A. in November 2015 decided to begin to workon a new long-term project named T0-R0. The project consistsin the development of the T0-R0 Mars Rover prototype for theastronauts assistance in a future manned mission to Mars. Morespecifically the rover is being developed for the participation tothe various universities rover competitions, which are becomingmore and more popular and prestigious during the years. Thesekind of competitions have the objective to encourage the researchfor new innovative low cost solution for these kind of future Marsrovers. The Teams primary short-term objective is to producethe very first version of the rover for the participation to theEuropean Rover Challenge 2018 edition. This first prototype willalso be developed with the intention to build a starting point forimprovements for the future versions of the rover.

The various competitions of the Rover Challenge Series, thoughnon identical, are similar for some aspects: first of all the kindof tasks the rovers must be able to complete and the weight andbudget constrains. In fact, it is required the development of aremotely controlled robot, capable of moving on a similar Marsterrain, which can do various kind of operations: from the collec-tions of terrain samples, for scientific research, to the capabilityof executing extra vehicular maintenance on the various kind ofelectric and/or hydraulic systems, together with the ability of col-lecting, moving and delivering various kind of objects. Also therover must take photos, scientific measurements and if it presentsa certain level of automation will be acknowledged, adding pointsto the final mark.As already stated in the proposal document, the design of thefirst version of the rover is going to present some ready knowtechnical solutions trying to represent the “state of the art” ofspace exploration rovers. The use of standard “off the shelf”components is almost obligatory in order to reduce the total costof the rover. While as for the weight all the subsystems must tryto stay as light as possible to remain into 50kg max weight of therover.Because the first goal is going to be the ERC 2018 competition,the requirements will be primarily identified on the rules of thatcompetition. Being this the first time that the team is going tobuild this kind of rover, the project design will be concentratedon the search for solutions capable of satisfying, first of all, theprimary tasks, which are essential for the participation in thecompetition.